Minnesota State Board of Trustees approves 2025–27 faculty contract

The Minnesota State Board of Trustees voted to approve the 2025–27 master agreement with the Minnesota State College Faculty (MSCF) at a special meeting, authorizing Chancellor Scott Olsen to sign the contract on the board’s behalf.

Vice Chancellor Davis told the board that Minnesota State and MSCF reached a tentative agreement on Feb. 6 and that MSCF membership and its board of directors certified ratification on Feb. 27, prompting the trustees to consider final approval at the meeting.

Betsy Thompson, director of labor relations for the college sector and the contract’s lead negotiator, summarized the economic terms for trustees. “For wages for fiscal year ’26 … the parties agreed to once adding 1 step to the top of the salary schedule,” Thompson said, and she added that the step placements for eligible faculty are retroactive to “last July 1.” Thompson said the contract adds another top-step and step placements in fiscal year 2027 and increases the existing wage differential for technical faculty from 2.5% to 3.0% in the second year.

Thompson also said the pilot that temporarily expanded limits for initial step placement for newly hired faculty will be made permanent for both former MCCFA ("green") and former UT (technical, "blue") faculty. She summarized changes to insurance participation rules intended to better align MSCF with other faculty contracts, including allowing credits earned at multiple institutions to count toward eligibility thresholds and clarifying how credits are averaged for spring eligibility and employer-contribution criteria.

Chair Saul thanked the negotiation teams and asked for a motion. A motion to approve the agreement was made and seconded; the chair read a motion that the board “approve the terms of the 2025–27 labor agreement between Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and the Minnesota State College Faculty and authorize Chancellor Scott Olsen to sign the agreement on behalf of the Board of Trustees.”

A roll-call vote followed; the trustees recorded "Aye" responses in the transcript and the chair announced the motion passed. The meeting adjourned and the trustees moved to a meeting of the executive committee.

Next steps: the board authorized the chancellor to sign the agreement and implementation steps described in the contract (wage steps, step-placement changes and insurance eligibility edits) will be carried out by Minnesota State’s administrative offices and the colleges, as described by bargaining staff at the meeting.